Latest News...

2018 Gympie Chamber of Commerce Business Awards

Gympie Podiatry was recently nominated for two 2018 Business Awards through the Gympie Chamber of Commerce and is very proud to announce we received 'Runner Up' in the Business Innovation Award category and 'Finalist' in the New Business of The Year Award category. We couldn't be more thrilled with these results!!

From the beginning, Gympie Podiatry has strived to be different to the rest, raising the bar for the Podiatry profession with a focus on foot education and preventative care first and foremost, preventing foot related hospital admissions and the catastrophic outcomes of poor foot care, also influencing the importance of high standard Podiatry care in our community.

These awards truly acknowledge the efforts being made and encourage Gympie Podiatry to continue striving for nothing but the best for clients!

A huge thank you to my clients, colleagues, referrers, supporters, family and friends, also to Excelsior Medical Centre and the Gympie Chamber of Commerce for making opportunities like these even possible!

Progressive Podiatry!

Our 'State of the art' Podiatry patient chair has arrived!

Gympie Podiatry is proud to be progressive, modern and very much tech-savvy! When you visit us, you will be seated in one of the profession's newest and most advanced Podiatry chair technologies, the BTC Podiatry chair!

With it's smooth Italian design, this space-age machine will seat you comfortably, ergonomically designed for optimum back, hip and knee support, while allowing the Podiatrist to treat in total comfort too. With a total heel height of 1.3m, tricky heel hard skin is absolutely no issue!

Come in and experience the Gympie Podiatry difference with this amazing new piece of equipment!

About

Podiatrist - Amy Langley

Amy completed her studies (Bachelor of Applied Science, Podiatry) at the University of Western Sydney in 2008, donned her cap and gown in 2009 and has been working as a Podiatrist ever since, bar a bit of a stint in 2013 on remote cattle stations in QLD and the NT where she galloped around on horses for 10 or so hours a day (and loved it!).

Amy's work history is varied, she has spent time working privately in Sydney, Brisbane and North Queensland, she has also spent some time at Liverpool Hospital in the High Risk Foot Clinic, and most recently as the Professional Lead for Podiatry at Townsville Hospital and Health Service (Queensland Health). This included some fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) work to remote Palm Island where she treated highly complex cases in a multidisciplinary specialist team.

Amy's focus area over the past few years has been preventative care for those with chronic conditions such as Diabetes, however she also enjoys assessing and providing education on foot, ankle and knee biomechanics and how to improve and preserve joint function. Amy has also been involved in multidisciplinary research during her time at Queensland Health as Podiatry Professional Lead and is always refreshing and updating her knowledge, making her an evidence based, best practice Podiatrist. Amy works as a sole Podiatrist and is comfortable and confident in treating absolutely anything that walks, skips, hops, hobbles or rolls through her door!

Mission Statement

Gympie Podiatry aims to treat every individual with dignity, loyalty and respect, whilst delivering experienced, high quality, evidence based Podiatric care in a clean and modern setting, adhering to the highest standards of infection control.

Amy's involvement in research...

Electromagnetic Stimulation for Diabetic Foot Wounds

For the first time in Queensland, Townsville patients with diabetic ulcers will receive electromagnetic stimulation treatment in a bid to drive down soaring rates of preventable amputations in North Queensland.

The trial will test the technology on 50 patients using electromagnetic stimulation machines. The technique has previously been used successfully to decrease the healing times for people with surgical wounds, burns and other slow healing wounds but has never been used for people with diabetic foot ulcers. Diabetic foot ulcers form as a complication of diabetes and, if untreated and unmanaged, can lead to amputation in more than 90 per cent of cases.

Townsville HHS Head Of Podiatry Amy Langley said clinicians had received training on the new machines and have now begun the trial. “This is a really exciting clinical trial that has the potential to make a huge difference in the quality of lives for people with diabetic foot ulcers,” she said. “A foot ulcer occurs when an area of skin has broken down compromising underlying tissue. People with diabetes are prone to poor circulation which can result in poor healing and leave the area vulnerable to an ulcer developing. Electromagnetic stimulation targets deep inside the wound and increases circulation in that area. Good circulation is a critical component to wound healing.”

The equipment for the trial has been purchased through Queensland Health’s New Technology Funding Evaluation Program ($60,000) with the Townsville HHS pitching in $40,000 through its study, education and research trust.

Data from the Australian Commission of Safety and Quality in Health Care has shown North Queensland regions have among the highest diabetes-related amputation rates in Australia. Outback Queensland (2), Cairns (6) and Townsville (10) feature in the top 10 regions in Australia for the highest hospital admissions for diabetes-related amputations per 100,000 people.

Townsville Hospital diabetes and endocrinology staff specialist Associate Professor Usman Malabu said the electromagnetic stimulation study complemented a suite of major research into diabetes being conducted across the Townsville HHS. “Hospital admissions and amputations as a result of diabetic foot ulcers are disproportionately high in this region when compared with most of Australia,” he said. “This makes it vital that Townsville as the region’s major tertiary centre really leads the way in developing world-class treatment to drive down the number of people whose lives are getting adversely affected by diabetic foot ulcers.”

Podiatrist and research coordinator Julie Goodall said the electronic stimulation machines provided a more intensive treatment than the shockwave therapy trial announced earlier in the year. “Shockwave therapy is used for wounds that without assistance would take months to heal and with this treatment we are hoping to reduce that to weeks,” Ms Goodall said. “The electromagnetic treatment is for much more complex and deeper wounds and we are hoping that it will reduce the time it takes to heal from years to months.”

The Townsville HHS also continues to roll out a $500,000 diabetes telehealth trial funded by BUPA and the Australian Diabetes Society. This trial is using 3D digital cameras to track the improvement or deterioration of foot ulcers. Clinicians in regional areas can take a photo monitoring the length, width and depth of a foot ulcer and send it to a clinician in Townsville for review and reduces the needs for patients to travel to Townsville for a weekly or fortnightly appointment.